


Selfish Souls

by Artikaa



Category: Tales of Berseria
Genre: F/F, extra mild spoilers, talesfemslashweek2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 13:56:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11556606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artikaa/pseuds/Artikaa
Summary: “I’m here,” Niko said quietly. “You already devoured me, remember? I’m right here.”“How could I forget?”A short fic for tales femslash week 2017Prompt: Dreams





	Selfish Souls

It was a nightmare.

The blood moon was as wide as the sky, stretching endlessly above Aball as Velvet groaned beneath it. _No_ , she thought. _Not again, not this time—it’s only a dream, I can fix this._ Pain surged through her arm and she threw her head back, screaming into the red sky. If she could only suppress it she could end the nightmare, but it was too much to bear.

Her arm felt as though it was being ripped from her body, her muscles ripping and bones snapping until there was nothing but a blinding pain. And then it stopped, her demon hand unfurled, and the pain subsided. It was replaced with a thirst.

How many times had she relived this? How many nightmares had she experienced in the months since that night?

The hot blood pumping through Velvet’s arm felt soothing now that she had lost the fight for her humanity. She looked down at the demon hand, its long talons curled into a fist. _Disgusting_.

“V—Velvet?”

Velvet’s eyes shot up to a painfully familiar face. She wanted to yell at the woman, to scream at her to get away, but her voice was little more than a pained whisper.

“Niko,” she said. “Run.”

* * *

 

Another night, the same Hell: the blood moon was rising.

The familiar pain bit into Velvet’s arm and she collapsed into the dirt, clutching it to her chest. “No,” She screamed between pained groans. “No more, I can’t bear to do it again!” The nails of her tightly clenched fist bit into her hand, drawing semi circles of blood, but Velvet only clenched them tighter. She was curled into a ball on the dirt, screaming into the cleaned fists, when she heard Niko’s voice.

“Velvet,” she said softly. “You can stop this.”

Velvet’s head snapped up, her eyes meeting with her childhood friend’s. It was far too early in the dream for Niko to be here—yet there she was, her wide eyes full not of fear, but of concern.

“Hey,” she whispered, “it’ll be okay. I’m here, all right? Just take my hand.”

Velvet shook her head wildly, clenching her arms tighter to her body. “No,” she screamed, “you have to run, Niko. If you don’t I’ll devour you over and over and I… I need you to survive!” Velvet’s breathing was labored, her shoulders heaving heavily with the movement. “I can’t take this anymore. Every time I have this dream I just want it to end. I’ve thrown myself down that damn hole so many times and it always spits me back out.” She was crying now, desperate. “Just let me die.”

The pain returned in full force, sapping the strength to keep talking. Velvet grunted, her eyes closed tight in anticipation of the ripping sensation she knew was about to sweep her body.

But instead, she felt warmth. She opened her eyes to find Niko’s arms tight around her, despite Velvet’s attempts to help her escape. Niko sighed into Velvet’s hair patiently. “Shh, just be quiet for a moment,” she said. “Just listen, all right? You don’t have to say anything. Don’t think about the pain, just feel me.”

Velvet knew it was hopeless. She bit her tongue to hold back her tears but it did little to stop them from flowing. She knew how this would end, but she was tired. She’d been fighting this dream for so long. She collapsed into Niko’s arms, her muscles relaxing with the pain.

“I’m here,” she said quietly. “You already devoured me, remember? I’m right here.” Niko’s arms tightened around her.

“How could I forget,” Velvet said, her voice cracking.

“Be quiet, I said listen. Now _listen_ —Velvet, you don’t have to see this anymore. All you have to do is stop thinking of this as a dream and let me exist.”

“But you’re dead.”

“I don’t care.”

“I ate you.”

“I don’t care.”

“How can you exist if you’re dead?”

“Velvet, just shut up and look at me.”

She did, their eyes meeting with a finality and clarity she hadn’t experienced in this dream before. Niko’s gaze was firm, her eyes hard. “This isn’t a nightmare anymore. I know it’s complicated, I know it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but you’ve kept me in your heart, haven’t you? That’s why I’m still here.” Velvet’s face twisted in confusion, and Niko spoke again before Velvet could ask any more questions. “Like how you talked to Seres before, remember? I’m here, too.”

Both women were silent as Niko let the realization sink into Velvet’s mind. She was _here_ , inside of Velvet’s mind, and she was conscious. There were a few of them left—the spirits Velvet had yet to release.

“Do you understand now?”

* * *

 

The nightmares subsided. Velvet fell asleep each night knowing that she wasn’t alone—and that in her dreams, they would meet again. She closed her eyes in the waking world and opened them again to Niko, a smile plastered across her face.

“Good work today,” she said. “You really kicked it to those exorcists, huh?” She smiled a toothy grin, and Velvet reached out to her, wrapping the woman in her arms. Niko responded in kind, clutching Velvet close to her chest as they let the moments tick away.

“Am I being selfish?” Velvet asked into Niko’s hair.

“No,” she said. “Unless we both are.”

“I don’t want to let you go.”

“I’m not telling you that you have to.”

Velvet pulled back from their embrace, her expression perplexed. “Doesn’t some part of you ache to move on? I released everyone else a long time ago.”

“Oh, I guess I must be special, then.”

Velvet rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you should know that by now.”

Niko grinned up at her before pushing herself onto her tiptoes and pursing her lips, an obvious request for a kiss. Velvet complied, pressing their mouths together firmly, holding Niko by the waist as their lips moved against each other.

Niko pulled back first, taking a gasp of air as they separated. “You can’t release me just yet, can you? What would you do without your dream girlfriend to keep you company at night?”

“Probably resort to nightmares again,” Velvet said, semi-seriously. Niko slapped her shoulder, solidly but not hard enough to hurt.

“Then don’t.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Velvet said. “I’m incredibly selfish.


End file.
